(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

I think today is the day I explore the Pedway.

Chicago has this thing, the Pedway, which is a loose network of underground tunnels, ground-level shopping areas, and SKY BRIDGES, which meander their way through downtown, covering something like 44 blocks in all. I've explored the northernmost branch, alias The Top Secret Food Court, and I've used the tunnel between the Red and Blue Jackson lines, but the vast majority of it is a mystery. I guess longtime commuters know a lot about it, particularly those who ride the Metra, but to us immigrants it's an inaccessible underground world only heard of in whispers and dreams.

I'm dead serious. It's like an urban legend, or Narnia. The one time I found an entrance to the Pedway Underground, it was locked. Aslan's pissed at me. (That's okay, he's on my shit list too.)

So today, today is the day I break through. I've consulted the great oracle of the internet and I think I have at least two points of access marked on my map. I'm going to see the Pedway or get very tired trying.

I have a St. Christopher's medal on a chain, which I recently augmented with a TARDIS key. I have a compass, digital camera, gum, and a smartphone. I think I'm set for anything short of a dragon.

If I don't post amusingly by eight thirty tonight, send help. Wait, no, don't send help, it'll just get eaten too.

Comments

[forest-rose.livejournal.com]

It's already 10.20pm over here! I hope you haven't been nommed already in some TARDIS-related accident....

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Safe and sound! No TARDIS, alas.

[petranef.livejournal.com]

I think you should also make sure you have a towel. ;)

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Excellent suggestion!

[calliope-jones.livejournal.com]

Thirded!

[flutteringazure.livejournal.com]

And possibly a version of a Marauder's Map!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL GOOD POINT. It's damp out there!

[margi-lynn.livejournal.com]

Oh how exciting!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I've been to the part over near Navy Pier, and the part that connects to the Metro station. Want to hear about the rest! Does a map exist, I wonder?

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I didn't know there was a bit by Navy Pier!

Maps do totally exist -- at some point I'll do a proper writeup and include some.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

...damnit, now I'm going to have to reset that one novel of mine to Chicago, just to make use of the Pedway Underground and populate it with my dragon.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

Crap, you got there first. I was *just* about to post saying that now I need to write fic involving a dragon living underneath Chicago and snacking on commuters. ;)

[firynze.livejournal.com]

I already have a Tunnel Dragon. I just have to move him to Chicago, clearly!

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

Aaah. Yes, clearly he belongs in Chicago. ;)

Maybe there is another dragon in the lake, and they periodically have massive fights, a la the red and white dragons of old?

*is totally a geek for anything Welsh, clearly*

[firynze.livejournal.com]

...oh goodness, this may have to happen.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

Yaayy!! XD *waves giant-ass red dragon Welsh flag*

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

If you made it a river dragon they could fight on the bridges!

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Can it be those annoying commuters who talk on their cellphones loudly about horribly inappropiate topics? Because fuck, I'd toss my lunch in after

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

DEFINITELY. They are the first to go. Dragons have sensitive hearing, you know, trufax. ;)

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Just make it a slightly fictional version of Chicago so you can have extra fun with it.

Hell, check the next entry, Sam does this in real life!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

YES. DRAGON INNA PEDWAY.

[ribby.livejournal.com]

Just avoid being eaten by a Grue, that's all we ask. *grin*

~Kris

[seshat1.livejournal.com]

If you get eaten by a dragon, you're going to be very upset you didn't pack a princess to distract it with.

(No, I don't know either, that's just all i could think of for dragon defence. It's late here. :D)

[bloodanna.livejournal.com]

Gold and shiny things! He can use the camera flash to make the necklace glint as he tosses it and it'll distract the dragon long enough for Sam to hide.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

A lance would probably be more useful, unless she's one of the really awesome princesses. :D

[thalia]

I've never been able to use the Pedway to actually get anywhere--it always dead-ends before getting to wherever I'm going. I hope you have better luck.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

It helped that I wasn't going anywhere in particular :D But it did feel like it dead-ended too soon.

[etharei.livejournal.com]

lol I had similar thoughts! it's like Sam's gone off to play Mornington Crescent in real life.

in the spirit of the Harry Potter hoopla, clearly if you do find a dragon, a) see if bank vaults full of treasure are nearby, and b) you should utilize it to break free to the surface.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL! Mornington Crescent: The Novel.

[(Anonymous)]

Old 80s style tardis keychain? Or did something get made for the current series?

I have the pendant version of the 80s one, which I sometimes wore to school because I was a dork and also certain no one who would tease for it would have any idea what it was.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

70's style TARDIS key! The shield-shaped kind with the connect-the-dots on the back?

[(Anonymous)]

That's the one! I think the pendant was the exact same thing, but with a chain instead of a ring attached.

I'm sort of surprised the new series went with a normal one (in the first season at least...missed merch opportunity there. There are homebrews all over etsy...http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwaallicht/4970298617/ would be the one i'd actually want, though.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

As much as I adore the classic design, I think it is a trifle dated -- though you'd think they'd redesign rather than using a boring old normal key. Missed marketing op, there.

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

*is suddenly irresistibly reminded of both Dresden Files and Neverwhere*

Have fun at the Underground Market!

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

Apparently the Pedway != Undertown, or Sam definitely would have been eaten by something.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

UNLESS...I am a wizard.

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

Maybe he had an epic battle and didn't tell us!

Or maybe-and this one's actually funnier-the epic battle only started just after he passed through. Or maybe he passed through and didn't notice because he was looking at the map! Maybe the TARDIS key is being a reverse perception filter and he needs to have it checked! :P

(maybe I really don't want to be working on this damn lab writeup.)

[azure-chaos.livejournal.com]

I think you've just unearthed Sam's next novel project \o/

And yes, I can see Sam walking obliviously through the middle of an epic battle (or better yet, them pausing while he does) while looking at the map.

This should also be a cartoon strip :D

Nate

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

I can't draw, but I'd be enthusiastic towards anyone who did draw this. XD

My mental image of Sam is probably rather inaccurate, as it's entirely based off a random image-flash I got once while I was walking towards the bus and went O.o about (for just a second, I saw a bar I've never been in, and a surprised blond guy with curly hair and glasses was turning around, and for some reason I felt like it was Sam, even though it has NO BASIS WHATSOEVER IN FACT ARGH THAT DRIVES ME NUTS) but nevertheless...

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Maybe instead of the Underground Market taking a sacrifice of human flesh, it took Sam's reality for the day.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

There you go. You put on your TARDIS key and reality forgot to notice you. That's why the map made no sense.

[lacylu42.livejournal.com]

There's one of those in Dallas as well, though it's smaller and decidedly more empty I think.